


i know something of being a lonely survivor

by whaleandjanuary



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Aphrodisiacs, Bondage, Dragon/human sex, Drugged Sex, Dubious Consent, Eggpreg, F/M, Oviposition, the dimitri brothel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:53:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27319546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whaleandjanuary/pseuds/whaleandjanuary
Summary: Rescued from the destruction of his world to a strange, timeless place, once-Prince Dimitri tries to find a new purpose to his life.A beautiful dragon distracts him.(Or: Flayn fills Dimitri full of eggs.)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Flayn
Comments: 8
Kudos: 56
Collections: FE3H Monsterfucking Weekend 2020





	i know something of being a lonely survivor

**Author's Note:**

> If you're looking at the tags going, "What is 'the dimitri brothel'?" - it's a goofy frame story for writing porn. Basically: in some AU, a very powerful Byleth lost their Dimitri and now wanders the worlds, rescuing and/or kidnapping other Dimitris for debatably nefarious purposes. (It's some sort of weird pocket dimension where Three Houses characters show up and can hire arbitrary Dimitris for sex.)
> 
> I have no idea how dragons, dragon sex, magical aphrodisiacs, or ovipositors work. I just wrote weird things that were horny to me.
> 
> There's some implied Dimitri self-cest but _it's a magic house with an uncountable number of Dimitris_ there is definitely some kind of Dimitri self-cest happening. 
> 
> I find the Dimitri brothel kind of inherently dubconny but in this case the dubcon is via some accidental miscommunication and then Dimitri being high as fuck. Everybody means well.

Dimitri is wiping down a table when his co-worker tells him, "Someone _new_ came today." 

He scoffs at his companion, who is also named Dimitri, but who goes by the nickname "Gem" for reasons that are obvious to anyone who meets him. "You can't be serious. These halls are ageless. How could anyone come here who hasn't been here before?" 

They are cleaning up after dinner in the oceanic dining room. It specializes in seafood (of course), and is surrounded on three sides by a massive aquarium (or possibly an actual ocean.) Dimitri likes working there for the people watching, the beautiful view, and the fact that he's permitted to glare at anyone who asks him what dishes taste the best. 

Gem shrugs, slightly rattling the stack of plates and glasses he's carrying. "Everyone had to have a first time. We're just lucky enough to see one. They're doing an open call so she can pick a companion. You should come." 

"I'm... still in training. You know that." Remedial training at that. He was fine at memorizing client details and preferences, and doing any sort of written evaluation, but the second there was any sort of practical test he... well, he was rubbish, really. Yuri had said he could teach anyone, but Dimitri believed he was testing that limit. 

Gem grins, and the crystal where his right eye should be flashes crimson for a moment. "Irrelevant! Open is open. Take my attitude: If they pick me, that's their problem. Besides," he says, turning serious for a moment, "you should see how it's done. There are a lot more non-bedroom jobs than waiting tables, and you should familiarize yourself with some of them." 

Dimitri and Gem are both restaurant staff, though they work there for opposite reasons. Dimitri is new, having been rescued from Fhirdiad's destruction in a hail of blazing javelins barely four months ago by his internal timeline. He has not earned the qualifications for any sort of _personal work_ and so helps out in other ways. Gem has served the House long enough that he only takes clients on the rare occasions that he feels like it. He has lived at this strange timeless place so long that he has no idea how long it's been, though his white hair reflects Agarthan meddling and not advanced age. 

Visitors to the dining room merely see two more Dimitris in their mid-twenties. Age is no reflection of experience here. Nor really is it a reflection of age. 

(The "are you twins" jokes became old approximately thirty seconds after Dimitri arrived.) 

Dimitri concedes the point. "All right. Maybe. Who is it? Is it a persona I would recognize?" 

"Yes and no. It's a Flayn - not a Cethleann, a _Flayn_ \- but with full control over her transformation, and it looks like she wants someone to play with while in dragon form."

#

The call takes place in a room that was not there before. Some mechanism makes there be enough bedrooms at any given time, so it's not _that_ strange, but it's rare for the House to generate complicated new spaces.

"This must be how Byleth knew something special was happening," says Gem, as they walk onto a small, rocky beach. "This is incredible." 

Two thirds of the chamber is a salt-water pool. The walls are a mosaic of little cottages and distant boats. Stained glass windows in the shape of kites color the room, and a skylight in the ceiling lets in sun (from... somewhere.) 

"I hope this room stays after Flayn leaves. It's very peaceful," says Dimitri. 

Byleth and the woman who must be Flayn are sitting on beach chairs and chatting, Flayn in a white sundress and Byleth in black swim trunks with silver stripes. There are six or seven other Dimitris waiting in the room, and they end up with twenty-six when Byleth stands to get them started. 

"Thank you for coming, everyone. I believe you are all familiar with Flayn in general, but _this_ Flayn is also The Cascade, the last heir to Nabatea in her world. She's here seeking something she can't get back home and you've all volunteered, potentially, to help her." They turn to Flayn, who gets up as well. "Feel free to mingle. I have an Ashe and Mercedes preparing snacks, and I'll send over everyone's profiles as well." Byleth pulls a device out of their pocket that Dimitri knows is for communication and starts tapping it. 

Flayn claps her hands together and grins at the assembled Dimitris. "Thank you for the pleasantly euphemistic introduction, Professor!" 

She must be older than the Flayn he knew, thinks Dimitri. Her face is slightly less round, though she's no taller. Her hair is half-pulled-back into a braid over a long fall of curls. Her ears are visible and she wears several pairs of earrings in them. 

(Her ears are a slight surprise, but basic secrets of the major House clients was the lesson for his third day of study, after "What is the House and how does it operate?" and "Welcome to magic sex work.") 

Flayn looks overjoyed. "Greetings, potential paramours! I am positively _delighted_ to meet you all and to acquaint myself with one of you in the most intimate of ways! 

"Allow me to explain my circumstances in slightly more detail. On my world, I have long outlived the others of my kind, and it is not safe for me to transform. But I long to stretch out into my proper shape for an extended period and your bastion of debauchery offers me an opportunity at last. 

"In addition, I feel as though I would be a poor customer were I not to sample the signature wares, by which I mean you charming gentlemen!" She pauses, briefly. "Oh, dear, I hope I have not made you feel as though you are a bundle of packages, although I would be lying if I claimed _your_ packages held no interest for me." She puts a hand over her mouth and stifles a laugh.

Dimitri tries to remember Flayn's profile. She was adventurous and enthusiastic. She was either comically inexperienced or deeply knowledgeable, with basically no in-between states. She was always older than she looked, enjoyed novelty and praise, and was good at articulating what she did and did not enjoy. She was a dream client for the similarly adventurous Dimitri, except for the occasional risk of Surprise Seteth. 

Flayn is still talking. "- in my true form, and of course to carry my eggs." Dimitri wonders what he's missed, because that's quite a sentence to come back in on. 

"Although... Professor," Flayn says, and her eyes sparkle with possibility, "Is it permitted to obtain the services of _more than one_ Dimitri?" 

Byleth's face is blanker than usual, if that's possible. "Yes, of course. People do it all the time. But we don't offer a bulk discount." 

"Hmmm. I shall have to consider it! But for now, I shall make small talk with these lovely young men!"

#

Flayn wanders about the room, chatting with people. She does approach them, but Dimitri explains he's just a novice and Gem says he's just here to gossip.

Dimitri mostly ends up splashing around in the pool with Gem and another Dimitri, who goes by Sky because he designed the ceiling for the masquerade ballroom. The water is warm, and there's a sandy bottom that makes it feel like a real beach. It's a nice distraction from this weird half-life and his uncertain future.

Eventually he does hear Flayn loudly exclaim, "Wait! I am committing a most foolish error! I should not be conducting interviews like this!"

Then she drops to one knee and turns into a dragon. 

She is clearly a water dragon. She's long - twenty feet? But she's almost all tail. She has four limbs ending in paws or hands (rather than fins), with silver claws at the tip of each digit. But she has fins as well, flowing, rippling ones at her sides and spiky ones running along her back. They fade from dark green at the tips through a lighter shade closer to her body, and they turn pink as they meet her trunk. The spikes make him think a bit of a lionfish, if they were green and enormous. 

Her head is larger than a human's, with a long snout and bright obvious teeth. Her eyes look the same. They must be bigger, but their color hasn't changed and she still looks amused as she turns her head to take in her audience. 

"Do you approve?" she asks. She laughs, and her voice is deeper, but only slightly. 

Dimitri is mesmerized by her tail. Her scales are shiny and he thinks they must feel glassy to the touch. They're such a beautiful green, like leaves in high summer. Flayn starts to walk around the room again, winding between the other Dimitris, and he stares at the smooth undulations of her body. She steps lightly even with her size. She must be incredibly strong. 

Yes, she must be. She sits up on her hind legs with ease so she can talk with a Dimitri. She has a pink stripe down the center of her belly. He wonders if she's sensitive there. She flares out her side fins in response to a question, and he wonders what they feel like. Are they warm? Are they flexible enough to wrap around you? She holds a paw up to another Dimitri's hand. Her paw is slightly bigger, even without the claws. Dimitri looks down at his own hand. That never happens. Apparently, there's a man named Balthus who comes sometimes who's bigger than Dimitri, but it's not common. 

She curls to show off her tail fin. It's four feet long by itself, and it ripples - oh it _is_ flexible. He wants to run his hands along it. She also has pink strands coming from her body, near the tail. He doesn't have a better word than "tentacles" but they don't have suckers like an octopus's arms would. What do _they_ feel like? What are they for? 

She's so compelling. He wishes she'd come back over here but he doesn't want to waste her time. If he felt her scales that... would be rude, right? He wants to know what it would feel like for her to put that big clawed hand in the center of his chest and push him down. 

She suddenly turns and looks directly at him. Oh goddess. What is his face doing? He's standing waist deep in the water with his mouth open, staring at her like a complete fool. She is not allowed to eat him. There is no way Byleth would allow her to eat him. He puts his hand over his mouth because somehow that's his first instinct over actually closing it. 

She approaches him, with deliberate steps. He thinks the corners of her lips are turned up in a smile, but that may just be the way her face is shaped. She enters the water and circles around him, smooth and elegant, a ring that separates him from everyone else for a moment. 

Her front rises up out of the water and she puts a clawed hand on each of his shoulders. Her face is so close. He can't move. He can't look away. So he feels rather than sees her tail wrapping around him. She loops it twice, around his legs and his waist, the tail fin pressed into his back. A small, shaky moan escapes past his fingers before he can stop it. Oh, the scales _are_ smooth and they glide over his skin. She holds him firmly and he knows she could crush him. It's amazing. What if she would loop around him again? Pin his arms? Let him feel the tentacles?

In the distance he hears Gem quietly say, "Wow." 

Something touches his neck and - he snaps open his eyes, which he hasn't even realized he's closed. Flayn's licking him with a long, bright pink tongue. He drops his hand from his mouth; he's not really hiding any embarrassment like this, is he? He tilts back his head to expose his throat to her. She flicks her tongue over his skin. Goddess. He's going to fall over when she lets him go. 

She leans back slightly and makes a satisfied noise. Then she tightens the grip her tail has on him and _he_ sighs. She chuckles. He strokes her tail with his hand. He isn't thinking about what to do. It's just... well, he wants to do it. 

"Yes, you are fun, I think." She pulls him closer with her forearms and suddenly she is in human form again, with her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He waves his arms frantically until he regains his balance, then puts his hands on her back. 

Flayn turns her head towards Byleth. "Professor, may I have this Dimitri, please?"

What?

Byleth walks to the water's edge. "You are more than welcome to choose him. However, I will note that he was originally here to observe. He is a novice and you would be his first actual client." 

"Oh, but he is so interesting. And that arouses _my_ interest." She looks into Dimitri's eyes. "And I can feel that his interests are already aroused." Dimitri tries to shrink into himself. This is why he's going to be a novice forever. Complete lack of self-control. He can hear Yuri disapproving, wherever Yuri is at the moment. 

Byleth tilts their head. "You are currently, to use an old phrase, climbing him like a tree."

"Yes, but that is not what changed him. He was intrigued by my true form." She presses her forehead against his. "Would you like to spend more time with me? To see all the things my body can do? Would you let me fill you, curl around you and protect you while you protect our eggs?" 

His face is hot. He must be scarlet. But he nods. There is no reason for any of this to sound appealing but it's all he wants at the moment. 

"Yes, do you see? That is why I want this Dimitri. Because he is the one here who is truly going to enjoy it."

#

He has to be _prepared_ for the occasion, both mentally and physically.

The mental preparation turns out to be less of an issue than the physical side of things. Certainly, he didn't wake up this morning and think "Today I want a dragon to ravish me" but... he's absolutely thinking it _now_. So that is who he is now. Maybe this can be his specialization. 

The egg thing, now that someone's explained all the details, is totally outside his frame of reference. He's not sure _what_ to feel about it. The primary emotion he finds himself experiencing is disappointment, because the magic of the House means the eggs won't be viable. 

The physical preparation is significantly more work. He doesn't have a brood pouch, obviously, so they need to empty out the spaces he does have. He'll be carrying the eggs for three days. (This was negotiated with Flayn to give her some time to play caretaker; a real dragon would carry them for several months. But exclusive use of even the literal least experienced Dimitri for that length of time would command a price he couldn't imagine. Byleth would probably refuse to name a price at all.) 

At any rate, he has to drink several glasses of a liquid that is full of _science_ , and is then stuck in the lab or the lab's restroom for most of a day reading writeups of Nabatean or other dragon-like clients. 

Yuri comes by to quiz him on Flayn's profile, but after a few questions he closes his notebook and says, "I know you know this stuff. You know what? When you go to her, just do what she tells you." 

Once they (where "they" is the laboratory staff - a mix of Dimitris who aren't doing personal work for one reason or another) decide he's sufficiently (ugh) _flushed_ , they move on to an "oviposition test." 

"So that you know what it feels like," says one of the Dimitris. 

"If you're going to panic, we should know that now," says another. 

"How reassuring," says Dimitri. 

A third Dimitri brandishes a _thing_. "So you know, this wasn't a custom-made device. A client brought it store-bought from their world. So this is well within the bounds of what a normal, non-professional person could bear." 

He doesn't panic. It's _weird_ though, feeling them squeeze a bunch of gelatin spheres inside of him. The real thing must be better, right? Feeling the little clicks of his nails over Flayn's scales. Warm breath puffing over his face. A clawed hand rubbing his swelling belly. 

"I think you'll be all right," says one of the Dimitris. "We are going to do a few more and then we want you to hold them for a couple of hours."

Dimitri groans. 

Gem keeps him company and tries, but fails, to help. Dimitri is full of water and gelatin, and sealed up tight with a plug that is definitely beyond the dimensions of anything in his training kit. 

"How do you feel?" Gem asks. He's flipping through the notes specifically on _this_ Flayn. 

"Surely it's obvious." He's tried to curl up but he's too full to really bend. "I feel like I'm going to burst. I have stomach cramps. The only thing keeping me in one piece is the fact that I am _literally_ stopped."

"Do you want me to help relax you?"

Dimitri rolls his eyes. "That is a kind offer, but no. Nothing you could do with your hands would make me feel better. And please do not use your disturbing hypnotic murder eye."

Gem frowns, and _the eye_ goes a dull reddish-grey. "I have never murdered anyone with the eye." He mutters to himself. "If I could murder people with the eye, I wouldn't have ended up _here..._ "

He shakes his head. "Well, if it's any consolation, this shouldn't be a problem with Flayn for real. The cramps, I mean. It sounds like you're going to spend three days being incredibly high; the eggs are lubricated with a substance that 'would promote relaxation and bonding in the male dragon, but as a human you will be adorably loopy,' Flayn's words not mine." 

"I've, urgh, read the profile." 

"How many blobs of goo did they put in you anyway?" 

"Twenty? Too many." 

"That's interesting. Flayn says here she's never produced more than eight. Ah, her eggs must be bigger. I wonder if you'll be able to see the individual eggs from outside." 

Dimitri groans. "That seems implausible." 

"I've said you need to strike that word from your vocabulary here." Gem's expression turns serious for a moment. "But hey, it's good that you've gotten a client. Once you've done _this_ you can do anything." 

The last thing they do, once he's finally allowed to remove the fake eggs, is lock two metal bracelets on him. Each has a silver charm attached. 

"They're locked just to keep them from coming off by accident. One is for temperature resistance and the other is for water breathing and to keep your skin from dissolving. You may be submerged for long periods." 

"Oh... yes, of course." Oh Goddess, what was he doing? But what else would he _be_ doing? His kingdom was gone. His _Fódlan_ was probably gone, in some terrible Agarthan civil war he didn't even know about. Apparently normal Dimitris made it out of the slums of Fhirdiad and waged a one-man war against the occupying Imperial troops? And that was all lost to him forever, and now... 

"Are you ok?" Gem puts his hand in Dimitri's hair. 

He sighs. "Why am I doing this? Why are any of us doing this?" 

"Because we don't want to die and because _you_ haven't figured out what you're living for yet. But you have forever to think about it. At least you're having some weird sex along the way." 

"It is... it is fairly weird. Also -" 

Gem interrupts him. " _Also_ I saw the way your eyes went wide and glassy when she transformed. I think you drooled a little. Stop fretting and go get railed by a dragon." He pauses briefly. "And then tell me about it. That's something I haven't actually done." 

__

#

He goes to her in a specifically-requested outfit - high-waisted black leather pants, a loose white shirt with the collar laces half-tied, barefoot. Perhaps he's supposed to look like a sailor thrown overboard, or someone's very unique imagined image of a sailor. No one is climbing any ropes in these trousers.

They chain him to a boulder that they've moved in since the open call, setting him up like a virgin (ha) sacrifice before the mighty dragon of the sea. (So is he a pirate or a princess? Someone's gotten confused.) The boulder is... somewhat squishier than he expected, but if she's going to take him right there without freeing him, he's glad they haven't used a literal rock. 

After the attendants leave, he is alone for several minutes, which grants him enough time to worry. He hadn't been told to expect a painful experience, but could they really know? Did they have any reassurance she wouldn't eat him? Certainly they'd ban her or worse but what good would that do him? He should have taken the lab workers up on their offer to give him something to make him relax _before_ he came in here. 

Then Flayn rises from the water, scales sparkling in the colored light, and he forgets to think of his worries or anything else. 

"This is a lovely outfit," she says, dragging the back of a claw up one of his legs. He is bound by the wrists and ankles, so his instinctive attempt to get away takes him nowhere. "You are very pleasant to behold. I am surprised they sent you to me wrapped up, although these trousers are a delightful frame for your legs. They do not leave much to one's imagination."

She places her large, scaly palm directly over his groin, curls her clawed fingers to cup his balls. "Tell me, do they feel as tight as they look?" 

"I... " His throat is dry. He nods. 

She whispers, "I am just tickled pink to hear it. But I do not think you need the shirt." She hooks a claw into the neck and tears through laces and cloth until it's open to his waist. 

"Oh," he says quietly. 

She licks his neck. Her breath is warm and damp, her tongue textured but not unpleasant. "I find your quiet astonishment to be terribly amusing. Did they truly bring me a virgin sacrifice?" 

"No, no, I apologize, I - "

She shushes him, licking the shell of his ear and grinding her palm against his growing erection - these pants _were_ too tight. He grunts and shifts his hips, but he has no way to adjust himself. 

"Open your mouth," she says. He does, and sticks his tongue out slightly, unsure of what she wants. She brings her snout close to his face, touches the tip of her tongue to his, and then pushes it into his mouth. 

For lack of a better word, she kisses him. Her tongue is much longer than he had realized; she wraps it _around_ his and still has room to explore his mouth. His training tells him he's supposed to be participating, supposed to be kissing her back, but all he manages is a soft groan and his eyes half-closing. 

After some time (and another soft groan from him when she pulls away), she says, "You are like a perfect doll. Are you content to be used? What a treasure you are. Let me hear you if you like it."

She tears his shirt more, till it's just shreds and sleeves, and caresses his nipples with her tongue. There's a rattle of the chain as he tries to stuff his hand into his mouth, but he's not going anywhere until Flayn frees him or he uses his Crest. His nipples are sensitive to the point of it being a weakness, and she licks him harder when she sees his reaction. He squirms helplessly and bucks into her hand. 

Flayn pushes off of him, clawed hands against the rock at either side of his waist. "I said to let me hear you. Are you trying to vex me?" 

"No." He shakes his head quickly. 

She raises an eyebrow (er, the muscle above her eye quirks like a human eyebrow would) and lifts her tail out of the water. She curves it over his body, and warm water drips down on him. 

"I know you thought my tail was pretty."

Oh no. Romantic talk was his worst skill. He should simply be honest, right? Like Gem says, if they pick him that's their problem?

"Yes, I did. I wanted to touch it. It's so long... it's so bright. It's so big. Your hands - paws? - are big too. Your hands are bigger than mine. No one's hands are bigger than mine." He stares up at the fin. 

"You may touch," she says, pleased. She bends the fin down and pulls it across his face. He moans, shakily. Something pink - several somethings pink - push past his lips. 

"Uh?" he says, muffled. It's the little tentacles he saw before, pulling his mouth open, rubbing against his tongue. They taste... sweet? How do they taste like anything? 

Flayn giggles, a strange sound to hear bubbling up from a _dragon_. "Oh, your pretty blushing face. Your pupils are so wide one can barely tell your eye color." She pulls her tail fin down his chest and stomach. Another moan escapes his now sadly-empty mouth. 

"Feel my spines as well. You hardly need it but I think we shall both enjoy it." 

She twists and pulls the back of her tail diagonally down his chest. Her back fins are sharp at the tips. It feels like someone raking their fingernails against his skin. He arches his back into it and then drops with a gasp as the tips catch and skip across his chest in little bloody trails. 

"You should be careful. They are sharp," she says, teasing. "Although I will tend to your wounds." She laps at the blood with her tongue and there's a soft glow as the cuts close.

"Your magic is... it feels hot," he says. Not quite burning but intense anyway. 

Flayn digs her claws into his hips and tears his pants open. "That is not my magic." She _pulls_ , and the leather rips loudly. He exhales with a sigh as his trapped cock is finally freed to the air. "That is the venom in my spines." 

"What?" He jerks hard enough that he feels one of the chains pull partially loose from the rock. 

"Shhhhhhhh," she says, placing one giant hand over his mouth. "If I were hunting for food, or if I were fighting to protect myself, then this would be dangerous to you." The heat is spreading away from the line on his chest. She's put her face close to his, so he can't see much. But he feels the pricks on his left leg, against his inner thigh, and he squeezes his eyes shut and whimpers into her hand as he tries to hold still. Her claws close slightly, pressing into the sides of his neck behind his ears. 

"If that were the case, you would be paralyzed! It is likely you would be unable to breathe!" She says this as though he should be impressed rather than fearful. He can feel the heat in his leg as well, now. 

She lets go of his mouth, turns startlingly quickly, and licks the wounds she's made on his thigh. The pain stops, but now he knows the heat will keep spreading. "But I am not doing _that_ manner of hunting, so you are safe."

She licks his cock, long stripes from base to tip, and he closes his eyes and tries to force himself to relax. So he doesn't see the fins she's pointed at his right arm until they've punctured his skin. He lets out a pained whine. 

She shushes him again. "Please," he says, but it comes out blurry, like his lips aren't coordinated right anymore. The heat in his midsection has lessened now, but he feels slightly tingly. 

Her face is back in front of his. "Please what? I am done. This should be enough for someone of your size." She licks away the spots of blood on his arm and another soft glow signals her healing. 

"What are you doing to me? What did you do?" His vision swims slightly. His skin's too sensitive. He can feel the air too strongly. 

Flayn's eyes widen. "Did they not tell you?" She looks to the side suddenly. "Did I forget to mention this in the interview?" She turns back to him. "Dimitri, if this is a surprise to you I am _terribly sorry_. I had assumed we were playacting." 

He makes a confused hum. Her fins bat gently at his sides. She runs the back of her claws along his cheek. "When it is time for me to mate, it acts as an aphrodisiac. And it will make you pliable. In, er, both senses of the word. I had a human mate for many years; it will not hurt you. You may feel a bit... wild for a time. I imagine it must be terribly disconcerting if you were not expecting it." 

He can still speak if he concentrates on it. "I thought when you - eggs. I thought when you put them - they did something like this. The oviputter." 

"Ovipositor." She has started rubbing her body against his. Her belly scales are in fact, glassy-smooth and they feel incredible everywhere but _especially_ over his cock. He struggles to listen to her. "Yes, but that is slow-acting and long-lasting. This is so you can get _to_ that point. Although you did not need it, did you?"

"Why woul - wouldn't nee - so pretty?" 

"You _are_ perfect," she breathes. "My mate did not need it either. But it can still be fun to play with." 

She shifts slightly and he is suddenly inside her. She's hot and he has a brief flash of a question if _she_ is the reason one of the bracelets protects against temperature extremes. But thinking is too much effort and she is _so_ wet and she glides against him so perfectly that he gives up on trying to reason anything out. He's not sure he can even move. His eyes drift closed and he quietly moans. 

After five seconds or fifteen minutes or who even knows; time is hard enough at the House on the best of occasions, he hears her say, "Ah, right," and she tightens around him with an intensity that makes him gasp and open his eyes. 

She is back in human form, holding onto him with her arms around his neck. "I hope this is all right," she says. "We are a bit mismatched for this otherwise." 

He nods. She can do whatever she wants. And this is... she's right, it's better. He thought it was perfect before but this is much more _focused_. 

He babbles something at her. He wants to say that he's struggling not to come but the sounds that come out of his mouth don't seem right.

She strokes his cheek. "Do not hold back on my account. You may come if it pleases you." 

Well, he certainly cannot hold back with her giving him explicit permission. He gasps through his climax and lays panting with his head lolled to the side while she continues to ride him. He does not become soft, and after a few minutes he mumbles, "How?" in confusion. 

"The venom allows you to keep up with me," she says, pleased. "If you were truly of my kind, you would have many smaller bursts and stay erect the entire time. But we were all designed to work with humans if necessary, and so I can bring you along with me." 

She reaches a hand between her legs to touch herself more directly. "This is quite enjoyable. I may be some time. Please try to relax." 

Dimitri tugs at the chains. "... help. I can help." 

Flayn shakes her head. "Did I not call you my perfect doll before? I wish for you to lay there and gaze at me adoringly and nothing else." 

He relaxes into the aroused haze filling his mind while Flayn bucks and moans. She looks like she comes several times, and he reaches another climax as well, screaming from the shock of it. He should be wildly overstimulated after, but he finds himself unsatisfied, thrusting his hips up into her and seeking some sense of being _done_. 

She eventually ( _eventually_ ) rests her chest against his, lays her head on his shoulder, and sighs. "Mmm. I have missed this. It is not to say that I cannot have relations at home. But there is something to be said for having a body that has been properly attuned to yours." 

"I'm glad," Dimitri says. He is incredibly frustrated. He is still hard and it is driving him insane. (Not... literally insane. He knows now what that means, now that he walks without the constant press of the dead against his eyes. But colloquially.) At least he is _doing his job_ finally, and he tries to cling to that for satisfaction. 

"You are so good," she says, cupping his cheek with one (tiny) hand. "Permit me to rest for a minute and then I shall free you from these chains. I can see the dissatisfaction on your face." She sits up and presses a hand into his belly. "I can tell you that you shall feel much better once you have been bred full with our eggs and are safe and warm in the nest." 

"... Ok," Dimitri says. He is skeptical.

#

She gives him _more_ venom. Dimitri tries to protest that he's already full of it, but she tells him that he needs to be properly relaxed or else it will be a struggle for both of them to get the eggs inside.

He bites off something about how can he possibly _relax_ with his cock stuck like this, but she fills his mouth with her tongue until his eyes roll back into his head. Then she pricks him up and down his back and lays her tail fin across his chest. He sighs and pets it until he's dizzy from warmth again. It's such a beautiful thing. Such nice colors. How firm the ribs feel and how soft the skin stretched between. The little tentacles caress his face and neck, slip into his mouth like tiny kisses. He holds up his hand and one wraps around his fingers. He could lay like this forever. 

She will not let him lay like this forever. 

"If you would, Dimitri, please open your mouth." He does, with a questioning noise, and she moves over him. He can see a glistening tube protruding from her lower belly. This must be the ovipositor he's been so apprehensive about. Perhaps it is good she gave him more venom, because he merely looks up with curiosity as she fits the tip of it past his lips. 

It's an odd consistency, squishy on the outside but it must have a firm core to hold its shape like that. He groans into it as she pushes it towards the back of his throat. It's wet, covered with a clear fluid that's thick, almost like honey but not quite so viscous. It tastes sweet as well. Honey is his best referent. 

But - he shouldn't be able to taste it. Why can he taste it? He tries to ask but of course nothing intelligible comes out through his full mouth. 

"Swallow, please," she says, and it's a command despite the politeness. He does, and then does again because she's filling his mouth with strange sticky-sweet fluid, and then again. Is she putting the eggs in his mouth? That would be a funny amount of overpreparation if so. But how would he swallow them? Aren't they too big for that? 

She pulls out of him, smearing his lips and chin. "It is good for you to have some gel in from both ends. It will help to keep the eggs in the right place." She twists around so their faces are close again. "Oh, look at you. Such a mess but still so lovely." He smiles dreamily and puts a hand on her snout, pets her perfect scales. 

She shakes her head slightly. "You are _quite_ loopy. How do you feel?" 

He bends a wrist back and forth. "It's nice having my hands back." 

"Oh dear. Perhaps that _was_ too much. Well, let us get you taken care of so you can rest." 

She maneuvers him to the water's edge, so that he's on his hands and knees with his lower half in the water. She lays over him, her side fins curling into his waist. She's warm against his back; he hums in contentment. She licks his neck affectionately. 

She has him spread his legs wider, and rubs her ovipositor between his legs, against his balls and his cock (which had finally been calming down, but nevermind to _thatgood_ though. He wants to be filled.

"You are performing most admirably," she says. She puts her big clawed hand against his chest and pulls him into her. He sighs. "It will be a minute or two before it swells to full size so the eggs can fit." 

Okay... that explains the full feeling. She's still rocking back and forth, but now she's just slipping in and out slightly. Ohhh, he moans at the sensation. It's the best kind of stretch and he pushes his hips back into her. He can't stand it. He needs her. 

"Please stay with me," says Flayn. "You do not wish to miss the fun part."

"Nnnnn," is what Dimitri says, because that's the level of coherence he has at the moment. 

"Believe me, I entreat you, when I tell you that you will be pleased. Ah! Here it comes. Do not forget to breathe." 

Then something stretches his rim even further, and it's on the edge of painful and - he gasps - and then it's inside, a ripple of pressure moving deeper. He feels Flayn tensing, pushing it into him, and then it must have gotten out past her because there's a spot of warmth inside him, and a weight that feels solid but right. 

When the second egg squeezes into him, he has an orgasm, which he was not expecting or prepared for. 

"Did I not say you would be pleased?" Flayn holds him as he shakes and gasps. This is a relief; he's not sure he can hold himself up. She's starting to breathe heavily as well. 

"Come, let us do this as it is meant to be," she says, and pulls him backwards and under the water. 

Dimitri is too high to remember that he has a bracelet that will allow him to breathe underwater, but he is also too high to remember that he cannot breathe underwater. As such, he does not have a chance to panic before he inhales normally, and by that point everything is fine. 

Fine? Maybe fine is the wrong word. Wild. Mind-blowing. Flayn wraps her long tail around both of them. He's held, safe, complete. He can't hold back his moans, and they tear away into showers of bubbles. He writhes on Flayn's not-dick as she pumps him full of eggs. He keeps coming, his body clenching helplessly. He has absolutely no control over anything that is happening right now, but Flayn has him and he'll be all right. 

Behind him, Flayn is huffing through clenched jaws. "Almost," she says. It's hard to hear her underwater but her voice reverberates in a way that must be partially magic. "It is so many. It has been so long. It is so good to empty myself out again. You are so precious to hold so many, swollen and full with our eggs." And they _keep coming_ , hot and heavy inside him. He clenches around Flayn in ecstasy with each one. 

He knows she must be done, finally, when she lets out a long, slow sigh, the bubbles tickling past his face. He puts his hands on his belly. His skin is tight, stretched. He can feel the warmth radiating into his hands. He is absolutely spent. He hopes she'll carry him to wherever they're going next. 

She licks the side of his face. He cries when she pulls out of him, and she gently hums into the back of his neck. "You have done so well. Let me show you our nest, my perfect treasure." 

She unwinds her tail and swims with him to the deepest part of the pool, where there is an underwater cave set into the wall. It's lined with smooth stones, and glowing blue crystals are set into the ceiling. (They may be lamps, but Dimitri is impressed by the illusion if so.) There is also a bed of seaweed or something similar. It must be cozy, if one was a water creature, just big enough for Flayn and Dimitri to curl up with Flayn's tail blocking the entrance. 

She swaddles him in the seaweed, one hand up where he can reach his face, and the other pressed against his belly where he can feel the babies ( _the eggs they are not fertilized_ ). He feels like he should want to object to being bundled up this way, but he's asleep before she can even encourage him to rest.

#

He spends most of the three days asleep, with the occasional bit of conversation. Flayn seems to spend the entire time alert and guarding him. She bats him awake periodically and makes him suck on her tail-tentacles. (He has already resolved that Gem will not be hearing about this bit.)

"Yes, you _must_. They will provide you with some nutrition and hydration without interfering with your overtaken digestive system. Can you not imagine the irony of you dehydrating while _underwater_?" 

"Urgh," Dimitri says. "Why are they sweet? I mean, why can I taste them? My sense of taste is broken." 

"Oh, yes, I remember your counterpart telling me this. I do not believe they taste sweet. I believe they tell your mind that they are good to put in your mouth, and your mind has chosen to interpret that as meaning they are sweet." 

Another conversation, from Flayn: 

"Why do you have both of your eyes?" 

"Ah... yes. It is a topic of some inconsistency among us. Apparently, Cornelia -" (don't think about her just stay calm just stay calm) "- is responsible for many of my counterparts' eyes, but I was rescued with my sight intact. Presumably I would have lost it in battle had my world not been destroyed." 

"Destroyed?" Her eyes widen. 

"Apparently, some worlds just... break. An apocalyptic event kills everyone. Here they call it having a shard 'splinter.' _Some reflections of reality are too poor to shine,_ " he recites. 

Another, a conversation he starts: 

"You mentioned a mate, but clearly in the past-tense. I am sorry." 

"It was a long time ago. Even by my awake-reckoning, it was a long time ago. I was in an accident, and I slept, _again_. When I emerged, hundreds of years had passed, and the Nabateans had been hunted to extinction."

"Oh no." What can he possibly say that will help?

She nods. "So I am sorry to say I know something of being a lonely survivor. Thank you for letting me play at being in a relationship again. I know the eggs are not viable, but I have enjoyed pretending to protect a mate while he carries our young. And to wear my own body. They are _both_ my own body, but it is so unpleasant to be crunched forever into one of them." 

Dimitri does not know what to say, so he tries, "I am glad I can help," which seems to be the right thing.

Another: 

"Dimitri, I know this is a rude question, but I _must_ ask it. If you left your world with the war still ongoing... what about the dead? Did they follow you here?" 

He sighs, long and deep. "When I first came here, they gave me a potion to drink, every morning and evening. It made the dead... go away." And how disturbing to finally understand that he never saw the dead at all, that his mind was merely broken. To be paired up with an expert who did nothing but help people _talk_ about their own mental shards and splinters. To know that _here_ his mind could be healed in a way it never could have been at home. "Now I have, ah, a device in my arm. It works for a few months at a time. I need to get it replaced soon." 

"I am sorry," she says. "I am sorry that your world died, and that this Byleth chose not to save anyone but you." 

"No, it's - it is something about how the House works. They cannot just take people who aren't me."

She growls. "There was a Lorenz working at the desk when I arrived." 

"I think he might be from Byleth's original world. He has been here longer than anyone. He's been here longer than Gem, and Gem's code number is _twelve_." He realizes that isn't going to mean anything to Flayn, but before he can elaborate, she interrupts him. 

"Come back with me." 

"What? Where?"

"Come back to my world. They said I was your first client. You have barely started. The Dimitri of my world is a thousand years dead. You can start over." 

"I... I cannot. I'll die." 

"No, we have therapy in my world. And now you know that the ghosts are not real. What could your contract possibly cost? I will buy it from Byleth." 

"No, I mean nothing more or less than _I will die_." They call it _fading_ and it doesn't always manifest in the same way or take the same amount of time, but the end result is the same. "Things don't work across shards, and that includes people. It is why the House sells experiences and not objects. I could only go home to my own world, which is gone, or... maybe to one emotionally next-door, if one existed." 

Flayn stares at him in horror, and he remembers that he is not supposed to tell clients about fading, because it gets exactly this response. 

They are not prisoners, but they have nowhere else to go. Byleth included. 

Eventually, Flayn says the only thing she can, which is, "I will come back to visit you whenever I find the door." 

"I'd like that," he says.

#

When the three days are nearly up, she brings him again to the water's edge. She makes him drink something that may be the same glass of _science_ as before, and she turns to human form and holds him as they wait.

"Once the gel dissolves, you can push them out. If they were viable, I would be beseeching you to not break them, but under the circumstances I will say merely to do your best." 

"I'm not ready to be a mother," Dimitri says drily. 

"Was that a joke? How endearing!" She sighs, happily. 

The eggs are not particularly _fun_ to expel, but Flayn tells him stories of similar times with her mate and that helps to pass the time. His head has cleared, and his original feelings of contentment at his swollen belly have turned mostly to, _oh goddess what did I do?_

Also he feels horribly bloated, so it's something of a relief to be getting his body back. 

The last few eggs are the hardest (of what turns out to be _twenty-three_ , thank you very much "never more than eight.") He leans back against Flayn and curses and yells, while she massages his belly and tells him what a good job he's doing. He is never doing this again. At the very least, he is asking Byleth to charge Flayn more. 

"You are almost done," she says, pushing on his belly. Her hands (small and human now) glow faintly with the light of healing. It helps him feel better, but what he really wants is to be _done_ and apparently nothing can help that except his own effort. He closes his eyes and groans. 

"Almost done, Dimitri. You bore them so well. You are such a beautiful, perfect mate." 

He yells again. She's right. He is almost done. He's going back to sleep for another three days when this is over. 

She speaks quietly into his ear. " _Find out._ Find out if you come from my world, or a compatible one. If you are, I will buy your freedom, whatever Byleth's price. I will shower you and them with gold, make you the crown jewel in my hoard. If you are not, then I will come whenever you call for me. Tell me your troubles and I will keep them safe in my heart."

He screams. Finally. That's the last of them. He can feel no more. 

She kisses his cheek, and pours healing light into his tired body. 

"I don't know what will come of this, Flayn. But I will ask. And if not, come and visit."

#

A literally unknowable amount of time later, a young man walks down a carpeted hallway towards a room where "his tour" will start. His name is Dimitri, and he has not yet internalized how utterly uninteresting that is.

He is still deeply confused about what is going on, though he has been assured that is normal. Yesterday, bandits attacked, Claude ran away, and he and El tried to hold them off, but... In the end a person he had never seen before, with pale green hair and black-and-silver armor, told him he could die or he could live a very different sort of life. Bloody and broken, he had taken their offer. And now... this.

The room at the end of the hall is lovely and comfortable, but his attention is drawn to the two men on a couch, one lying with his head in the other's lap. They are different from him and from each other, but they both have his face. 

"Hello. I apologize if I am interrupting, but I am looking for someone to give me a tour of... this place?" 

The one _on_ the lap stands and extends a hand. "That's us." His hair is white, and where his right eye should be is a gemstone that changes to different shades of red as he talks. "Pleasure to meet you, New Guy. You'll learn that introductions via name are useless here, so I will tell you that I am the Flame Prince, forged in the fires below by the children of men to bring about an era beyond the need for gods." He grins suddenly. "But also that you should call me Gem, because everyone else does." 

The one _with_ the lap stands more slowly, with a sort of liquid grace to his movements. He wears the same blue trousers and white shirt as his companion, but also an assortment of jewelry. He has rings on most fingers and several bangles on one wrist. He has three earrings in his left ear, and his lower lip is pierced. 

"Hi," he says. "You will be ok. You look nervous, but we all were once. We were all the new guy once upon a time. You can call me Dragon. That's my specialization."


End file.
